Tips for Walking Through the Telemarketing Gate

The list of telemarketing best practices and suggested approaches for generating business is quite lengthy. One way to ensure a call is not a success, however, is a negative interaction with the gatekeeper who initially answers. Making a positive impression on these gatekeepers—often personal assistants or switch board operators—is crucial, as they typically have near complete control of whether the caller will be able to reach a decision maker.

Your agent’s window for being transferred to a decision maker is often fairly short, as the gatekeeper is likely quick to dismiss your inquiry and unwilling to listen to a lengthy pitch. Keeping this in mind, your representatives must strike a delicate balance between quickly and clearly outlining the benefits of your service without seeming rushed or edgy.

With the right telemarketing software in place, though, your company can control its message by creating a customized campaign script. The software can help your business track the script’s effectiveness over time by recording and archiving calls, then organizing the information on a central dashboard. The recorded call data provides invaluable insight into which parts of your script are generating positive outcomes, and which may need some tweaking.

A quality script will also put your agents at ease. One of the most common mistakes telemarketers make is treating the gatekeeper as the enemy. As the saying goes, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, and you generate more business using that strategy as well. With a solid script to support them, your agents will be more relaxed, creating a pleasant tone for the call.

So don’t let the potential fruits of your telemarketing calls die on the vine. Make the investment to upgrade your telemarketing capabilities and open the gate to more productivity.